Ghaziabad: A prestigious Indirapuram school in Ghaziabad locked out 34 students of its premises on Friday morning, in the ongoing tussle between the school authorities and parents.
The nearly three-year-old issue had been simmering, with schools and parents regularly clashing over what the latter see as arbitrary and excess fees and the former see as necessary.
After many parents refused to pay the annual and development (A&D) charges to Presidium, 34 children were issued midterm transfer certificates. They woke up on Friday, to find the school bus absent.
Anil Tyagi, a parent, told News18 that the school had told the buses to not collect these 34 children. Soon after, a protest erupted at the school gate, with parents and distressed children gathering outside, till police intervention allowed them to enter the school campus. The children were still not let into classes, Tyagi added.
Earlier, Presidium had issued transfer orders to 18 students on July 24.
In another such incident, 16 students of Delhi Public School (DPS) Indirapuram were issued Transfer Certificates over the same issue on Friday.
On Thursday, the District Inspector of Schools (DIOS), had written to DPS, giving them three days to reconsider the 16 TCs. Parents are hoping the same will apply to Presidium.
When the current Uttar Pradesh government came to power, it made all the right noises about restricting private schools from charging hefty sums under different heads. The issue is a long standing bone of contention as parents have taken up the issue on a yearly basis.
The former Joint Director Education (JDE) met their concerns with a sympathetic ear, ordering schools on January 11, 2017, to refrain from charging fees under any other categories other than those set out by the government.
Parents in Ghaziabad and the rest of NCR, over the years, have formed several associations and taken the matter to court. On August 21, the Allahabad High Court called these fees “arbitrary” and, under the Right to Education Act (2009), asked the UP government to form a law to supervise private schools.
“This is the same practice that has been stopped by the Delhi government, and now private schools are refunding the excess money they charged,” Tyagi said.
In January this year, the Supreme Court had ruled that private schools operating on land allotted by the Delhi Development Authority, either needed government permission before hiking fees or had to return the land. The ruling came after protests by parents with similar concerns over rising school fees.
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